The founder of one of London's best-known VC funds is moving to Africa and closing his coworking space

Federico Pirzio-Biroli, the founder of London VC fund Playfair
Capital, is planning to move to Africa to become an angel
investor there, and the fund is closing its coworking space at
Warner Yard in Clerkenwell.

Pirzio-Biroli told Business Insider that he worked at NGOs in
Africa before becoming a technology investor, so this is a
logical move for him. He says that angel investing in Africa can
make a big difference to economies there, whereas London is now
flooded with early stage funding for technology startups.

The Playfair Capital fund isn't going to close its doors
completely — instead Pirzio-Biroli is handing over control
to his remaining staff and preparing to become a limited, rather
than general, partner.

Pirzio-Biroli provided this statement about his move to
Africa:

My decision to move to East Africa was made in November. I am and
have always been personally excited by frontier markets, and feel
like there is a real opportunity to move the needle there for the
better. The startup ecosystem in London has developed in leaps
and bounds since I began investing in 2010. Playfair capital is
well positioned and will continue going from strength to strength
without my operational involvement. I will be anchoring Playfair
(Fund II) as an LP and have every confidence in the team going
forward. Our dealflow (especially in the AI/ML space) is strong
and we have several new deals which will be announced in due
course. Crucially for the future, these deals have been entirely
sourced, diligenced and executed without my input.

Playfair Capital owns Warner Yard, the coworking space in East
London that's home to several technology startups.
But Pirzio-Biroli says that the coworking market in
London is just too competitive with the rise of companies like
WeWork, so Warner Yard's space for startups will be closed. The
fund will keep the top floor, but the rest of the office will be
let to a single tenant.

Here's a statement from Playfair Capital about the
closure of Warner Yard's coworking space:

Our growth as a firm coincided with the growth of so many
startups that have come through the doors of Warner Yard. It has
been such an honour and a privilege to spend so much time with so
many fantastic entrepreneurs on a daily basis. And so, it is with
a heavy heart that we oversee the transition of Warner Yard away
from co-working, but we are also excited by the opportunities
which this change will bring, most notably allowing Playfair to
fully concentrate on what it does best; investing in startups.